Are we losing our rights in the name of safety?

[cityimrov]

because I only have to deal with the hassle a few times per year and it does make me feel safer.

That is pretty disturbing, "it makes you FEEL safer" but that is about it because the molestation of your fellow citizens is certainly not MAKING you safer.  Based on that line of thought, some would FEEL safer if we just locked up all african american males between the ages of 18-25, but no one would actually BE safer. So where does this abuse of rights in order for the majority to feel better stop?

Crazy people on a religious mission will not stop, so what is left for them? Storing bombs on little children? Would you FEEL safer if 2yr olds had body cavity searches done?

Unfortunately, this country actually did something like that a few times.  The most famous one being the Japanese Americans during WWII. 

[Ocklawaha]

Maybe I'm a bit different, but I've never minded the full pat-down a the airports in Colombia!

OCKLAWAHA

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Maybe I'm a bit different, but I've never minded the full pat-down a the airports in Colombia!

OCKLAWAHA

Unfortunately, Ock, this isn't Bogota.  Welcome to Cowford.....

[KenFSU]

TSA rubdown leaves traveler in tears, covered in urine:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40291856/ns ... ?GT1=43001

TSA forces cancer survivor to show and remove prosthetic breast, feels it up:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40278427/ns ... ravel-news

Young boy strip searched in front of other travelers by TSA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skkCpnCm7iM

Three year old girl forcibly searched by TSA (I would KILL someone if they tried to put their hands on my daughter):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFoa0Lsq ... _embedded#!

Rape victim has panic attack during TSA patdown:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/17/tsa- ... ivors.html

Citizens face $11,000 fine, arrest if refusing nude scans/patdowns:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sf ... 4032.story

Congress allowed to skip TSA screening:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201011 ... them.shtml

Woman with artificial knee left in tears after TSA agent sticks hands down her underwear and pats her vagina:

http://www.kmov.com/news/mobile/Woman-s ... 14934.html

Biochemist says X-Ray Scanners may be unsafe, cause increased risk of cancer to children:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20022541-281.html

Former head of TSA now runs the company selling airport scanners:

http://www.rcreader.com/commentary/tsa-commonsense/

TSA worker plants cocaine on college student as a "prank":

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/tsa-employ ... id=9635647

Woman left in tears after TSA employee reaches up her skirt and grabs her crotch hard enough to lift her off the ground:

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.a ... 3&catid=14

4 Year old Disabled Child Forced by TSA to remove leg braces and stumble through scanner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvNNks_m ... re=related

Obama says pat downs are necessary, though he and his family are exempt. Change we can believe in:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40289750/ns/travel

Ron Paul, blasts the TSA on the House floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vjrNmlU9is

[CS Foltz]

+1 KenFSU..............you have given this some research I see...................I concur!

[BridgeTroll]

What is interesting about this issue is the diversity of political thoughts mixing in uncommon ways... liberals and conservatives coming together as allies on both sides of this issue.  Some might be horrified to find themselves on the same side as Ann Coulter...

http://www.anncoulter.com/

NAPOLITANO: THE BALL’S IN MY COURT NOW
November 17, 2010

After the 9/11 attacks, when 19 Muslim terrorists -- 15 from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates and one each from Egypt and Lebanon, 14 with "al" in their names -- took over commercial aircraft with box-cutters, the government banned sharp objects from planes.

Airport security began confiscating little old ladies' knitting needles and breaking the mouse-sized nail files off of passengers' nail clippers. Surprisingly, no decrease in the number of hijacking attempts by little old ladies and manicurists was noted.

After another Muslim terrorist, Richard Reid, AKA Tariq Raja, AKA Abdel Rahim, AKA Abdul Raheem, AKA Abu Ibrahim, AKA Sammy Cohen (which was only his eHarmony alias), tried to blow up a commercial aircraft with explosive-laden sneakers, the government prohibited more than 3 ounces of liquid from being carried on airplanes.

All passengers were required to take off their shoes for special security screening, which did not thwart a single terrorist attack, but made airport security checkpoints a lot smellier.

After Muslim terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria tried to detonate explosive material in his underwear over Detroit last Christmas, the government began requiring nude body scans at airports.

The machines, which cannot detect chemicals or plastic, would not have caught the diaper bomber. So, again, no hijackers were stopped, but being able to see passengers in the nude boosted the morale of airport security personnel by 22 percent.

After explosives were inserted in two ink cartridges and placed on a plane headed to the United States from the Muslim nation of Yemen, the government banned printer cartridges from all domestic flights, resulting in no improvement in airport security, while requiring ink cartridges who traveled to take Amtrak.

So when the next Muslim terrorist, probably named Abdul Ahmed al Shehri, places explosives in his anal cavity, what is the government going to require then? (If you're looking for a good investment opportunity, might I suggest rubber gloves?)

Last year, a Muslim attempting to murder Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of Saudi Arabia blew himself up with a bomb stuck up his anus. Fortunately, this didn't happen near an airport, or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano would now be requiring full body cavity searches to fly.

You can't stop a terrorist attack by searching for the explosives any more than you can stop crime by taking away everyone's guns.

In the 1970s, liberal ideas on crime swept the country. Gun owners were treated like criminals while actual criminals were coddled and released. If only we treated criminals with dignity and respect and showed them the system was fair, liberals told us, criminals would reward us with good behavior.

As is now well known, crime exploded in the '70s. It took decades of conservative law-and-order policies to get crime back to near-1950s levels.

It's similarly pointless to treat all Americans as if they're potential terrorists while trying to find and confiscate anything that could be used as a weapon. We can't search all passengers for explosives because Muslims stick explosives up their anuses. (Talk about jobs Americans just won't do.)

You have to search for the terrorists.

Fortunately, that's the one advantage we have in this war. In a lucky stroke, all the terrorists are swarthy, foreign-born, Muslim males. (Think: "Guys Madonna would date.")

This would give us a major leg up -- if only the country weren't insane.

Is there any question that we'd be looking for Swedes if the 9/11 terrorists, the shoe bomber, the diaper bomber and the printer cartridge bomber had all been Swedish? If the Irish Republican Army were bombing our planes, wouldn't we be looking for people with Irish surnames and an Irish appearance?

Only because the terrorists are Muslims do we pretend not to notice who keeps trying to blow up our planes.

It would be harder to find Swedes or Irish boarding commercial airliners in the U.S. than Muslims. Swarthy foreigners stand out like a sore thumb in an airport. The American domestic flying population is remarkably homogenous. An airport is not a Sears department store.

Only about a third of all Americans flew even once in the last year, and only 7 percent took more than four round trips. The majority of airline passengers are middle-aged, middle-class, white businessmen with about a million frequent flier miles. I'd wager that more than 90 percent of domestic air travelers were born in the U.S.

If the government did nothing more than have a five-minute conversation with the one passenger per flight born outside the U.S., you'd need 90 percent fewer Transportation Security Administration agents and airlines would be far safer than they are now.

Instead, Napolitano just keeps ordering more invasive searches of all passengers, without exception -- except members of Congress and government officials, who get VIP treatment, so they never know what she's doing to the rest of us.

Two weeks ago, Napolitano ordered TSA agents to start groping women's breasts and all passengers' genitalia -- children, nuns and rape victims, everyone except government officials and members of Congress. (Which is weird because Dennis Kucinich would like it.)

"Please have your genitalia out and ready to be fondled when you approach the security checkpoint."

This is the punishment for refusing the nude body scan for passengers who don't want to appear nude on live video or are worried about the skin cancer risk of the machines -- risks acknowledged by the very Johns Hopkins study touted by the government.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that we need to keep the government as far away from airport security as possible, and not only because Janet Napolitano did her graduate work in North Korea.

[cityimrov]

See what happens if everyone is subjected to the same thing?  They unify!  The TSA doesn't discriminate against liberals or conservatives.  They only discriminate against fliers and non-fliers.  The non-fliers don't see them!  

I'd say the best way to get rid of the TSA is to expand the TSA.  Make TSA a requirement in entering any public building which holds more than 50 people.  Malls, Sports Arenas, City Hall, Court Houses, Schools, Colleges Everywhere!  Put TSA in front of everything and make it a daily occurrence for everyone in the country.  

Before going to work? TSA Search.  Eating out at The Landing?  TSA Search.  Picking up kids at school?  TSA Search.  Going to Little Jonny's Little League Baseball Game?  TSA Search.  

When that happens, hide!  The riots the frequent filers are having now will be the mass public about ready to overthrow the government.  

[ChriswUfGator]

Yes, exactly why the TSA has just exempted all members of congress from these new procedures.

Kind of tells you they know they're doing wrong, no? Like sucking up to teacher to avoid getting in trouble.

[Dog Walker]

Now here's a law we can all get behind:

"All elected officials and all government employees shall be subject to all laws and regulations that apply to all citizens."

[ChriswUfGator]

He sure looked like Al Qaeda to me...

[BridgeTroll]

You mean like this?

[Burn to Shine]

Well, I mind it very much.  

Especially having been unknowingly molested in a matter of seconds.  I went though the metal detector and I forgot to take off my sweater.  No one asked me to remove it.  I was asked to put my arms out to my sides.  I thought she was going to use the wand however the next thing I know...full on groping began.  I didn't know what to say or think.  I was dumbfounded.  This was before all the controversy.  

Since then, I've been terrified to go to the airport for fear of being grabbed again.  I sure as he&& don't want to stand around "naked" for the TSA and I don't want to be touched either.  I have to fly so....

I will say this...if they ever touch my child...I will need bail money.  They will not see my kid "naked" either.  

I guess I'd better invest in a good car.  Sons of beotches.

[uptowngirl]

+1000


I braced myself Saturday morning as I was taking my seen yr old to the airport as an unaccompanied minor. Luckily they did not ask for the naked pictures nor touched her (or myself for that matter), but I did ensure I had bail money set aside just in case.

[KenFSU]

I'd say the best way to get rid of the TSA is to expand the TSA.  Make TSA a requirement in entering any public building which holds more than 50 people.  Malls, Sports Arenas, City Hall, Court Houses, Schools, Colleges Everywhere!  Put TSA in front of everything and make it a daily occurrence for everyone in the country.  

Before going to work? TSA Search.  Eating out at The Landing?  TSA Search.  Picking up kids at school?  TSA Search.  Going to Little Jonny's Little League Baseball Game?  TSA Search.

We joke, but this is exactly the type of slippery slope that atrocties like the TSA screenings can lead to. People either obliviously believe that stuff like this is for their own good, or they become conditioned to accept it.

What scares me is that the head of the TSA, John Pistole, wants to do exactly what you joke about, and expand the TSA into all forms of travel.

From USA Today:

TSA Chief John Pistole to put Priority on Subways, Rail

ARLINGTON, Va. â€" Protecting riders on mass-transit systems from terrorist attacks will be as high a priority as ensuring safe air travel, the new head of the Transportation Security Administration promises.

In his first interview since taking over the TSA, former FBI deputy director John Pistole told USA TODAY that some terrorists consider subway and rail cars an easier target than heavily secured planes. "Given the list of threats on subways and rails over the last six years going on seven years, we know that some terrorist groups see rail and subways as being more vulnerable because there's not the type of screening that you find in aviation," he said. "From my perspective, that is an equally important threat area."

Pistole, 54, took over the TSA on July 1 after 26 years at the FBI. He said he wants to make the agency a full partner in U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

The attempted bombing of a flight over Detroit last Christmas indicates "al-Qaeda and affiliates are still interested in doing some type of attack involving aviation," Pistole said.

Members of Congress, including House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., have pressed the TSA to put more money into mass-transit security. Thompson met with Pistole on Thursday and said the two agreed.

Thompson said he was "impressed with Pistole's knowledge of security" and with his experience at the FBI as a manager. "From that, I am confident he won't pass on making difficult decisions," Thompson said.

Deputy FBI director from 2004 until taking over the TSA, Pistole brings an extensive security and counterterrorism experience to the 60,000-person agency that was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was deeply involved in high-profile terrorism investigations, including the Christmas Day bombing attempt and the attempted car bombing in New York City's Times Square in May.

Pistole said he wants TSA workers, including 47,000 screeners at 450 airports, to operate as a "national-security, counterterrorism organization, fully integrated into U.S. government efforts."

"I want to take TSA to the next level," Pistole said.

Pistole is President Obama's first TSA chief. Two Obama nominees withdrew during the confirmation process.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-07-16-tsa16_ST_N.htm

[ChriswUfGator]

I think he meant, albeit unintentionally, the next level...DOWN